The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)

J.D. Salinger

ISBN 10: 014023750X / ISBN 13: 9780140237504

Published by Penguin Books Ltd, London, 1994

About this Item

Paperback. The Catcher in the Rye is the ultimate novel for disaffected youth, but it's relevant to all ages. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Throughout, Holden dissects the 'phony' aspects of society, and the 'phonies' themselves- the headmaster whose affability depends on the wealth of the parents, his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection.Lazy in style, full of slang and swear words, it's a novel whose interest and appeal comes from its observations rather than its plot intrigues (in conventional terms, there is hardly any plot at all). Salinger's style creates an effect of conversation, it is as though Holden is speaking to you personally, as though you too have seen through the pretences of the American Dream and are growing up unable to see the point of living in, or contributing to, the society around you. A 16-year old American boy tells what life is like for him at home and school, and reveals the workings of his own mind. What does a boy in his teens think and feel about his teachers, parents, friends and acquaintances? Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780140237504

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 014023750X
• ISBN 13: 9780140237504
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Ever since it was first published in 1951, this novel has been the coming-of-age story against which all others are judged. Read and cherished by generations, the story of Holden Caulfield is truly one of America's literary treasures.

Review

Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.